I’m not sure what book the they’re referring to but this was not a “totally hilarious romantic comedy”. This book spent the whole time in Kat’s head, which is a scary, scary place. Crippled with anxiety, she can’t leave the gym. There’s nothing funny about anxiety or mental illness, and there was rarely any romance. In fact, she gets dumped, so it’s the exact opposite. The book cover and blurb make you think it’s going to be so funny and light and it’s anything but. This was an uncomfortable book to read (listen to) and I can’t recommend it.

3 solid ⭐
Is this a debut? It seems like it.

Poor Kat is having a rough day. While at the gym, a place she didn't want to be to begin with, she receives a phone call from her boss who is calling to fire her. She, then, calls her boyfriend, Sam, to tell him and he ends up breaking up with her. She has a panic attack and ends up avoiding security and spends the night, and the next and possibly the next ~ I'm not really sure how many days she stays there. Good thing the health club is set up with everything she could possibly need, such as a bar, restaurant, clothing shop and all the proper gym type things.

There were a couple funny parts, but not overly so. It is light, as in basically non-existent, on the rom and com and is heavy on Kat's anxiety issues, which is fine. It seemed she did want to drink an excessive amount of alcohol, but the people she hung out with did not. I liked the ending and how she saved the child.

Quite a long listen at 11 hours and 42 minutes. Kate Handford was a good narrator.

Thank you so much to Netgally and the publisher for sending me an e-arc of this book!

Characters: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

I really enjoyed the first few chapters... after that the plot seemed to just stop. There was no character development until the very end, and at times, this book seemed very repetitive. I felt that the humor was similar--I found myself laughing at first, but after a while it became redundant. Finally, if you are picking this up in hopes it is a romcom, don't. It is definitely closer to general fiction. Overall, it was cute read, and provided me with a few hours of entertainment.

Come Here Often? By Ellie Center

First I want to thank Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the advanced readers copy. I would also like to apologize for not being able to finish it (10%). As someone who is currently battling anxiety, reading Kat’s experience is too overwhelming for me. Which means it is probably an accurate representation of some extreme anxiety. I also struggled with her blaming others for her behavior, especially since attending therapy is mentioned. (Though that could possibly be rectified later.)

To be fair, Kat’s anxiety is mentioned in the synopsis. I just didn’t realize we would be living it with her moment to moment and was expecting a lighter, comedic read.

Content Warning: alcohol as a coping mechanism, anxiety, grief, mental illness.

I was really excited for this one! But it fell flat for me. I found the main character, Kat, frustrating. And I didn’t really understand the theme/point of the book. I was expecting more romance or relationship development. And the humour wasn’t really obvious (maybe it was just me?) They kept introducing new layers to the main character, not exploring it, and kept going back to the fitness component.

Poor Kat has what is possibly one of the worst Mondays ever as she's battling a hangover while exercising when she loses her job and her boyfriend of years in the span of just minutes. Good thing for her is it happens while she's dipping her toe into exercising at a fancy gym that has everything because she has a major panic attack and finds herself unable to leave. This begins a week of deep self-exploration and analysis for Kat that just might lead to the changes she needs to once again find joy in her life.
I only have one negative to comment on about this one. As much as I enjoyed this story of a young woman who finds herself trapped by her anxiety in one of the nicest gyms I've ever heard of, I do feel that it should come with a bit of a warning because Center really gets what anxiety-driven panic attacks feel like and describes them vividly enough that you feel poor Kat's anxiety right along with her. It wasn't a dealbreaker for me, but I do worry about readers who might feel like it gets a bit too realistic.
The narration by Kate Handford is solid in giving each moment the appropriate emotion and really bringing readers into the moment right along with Kat. You feel Kat's highs and lows in part because of how well Handford embodies her.
Overall, it's a great read about facing your fears and really looking at your life choices that had some fun moments and even more thought-producing ones that I highly enjoyed.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the early listen!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: May 23, 2022

Kat finds herself freshly fired and lost after a breakup (over the phone while at her new fancy gym that her now-ex has paid for, no less), and it triggers a panic attack which leaves her unable to walk back through the front door to get outside. She ends up spending the night at the gym—but will she be able to leave tomorrow?

This is neither comedy or romance, and honestly it’s just a little sad. I thought I’d identify with some of Kat’s anxieties but this is as if an entire book was written to use her anxiety to justify her toxic actions instead of trying to change them for the better. She’s a completely reckless, alcoholic pathological liar. She makes light of her DUI and then applies to work with kids—blatantly lying about said DUI. She also thinks working in childcare would be less stressful than being a dental hygienist. I have no coherent words left after listening through such naïveté.

I loved this book so much. I've read a lot of titles lately about neurodiverse people and this one is spot on. I enjoyed the "spiral" in real-time and how Kat justified and explained her life. It was a great read.

This is a hard one to review! First of all, I thought the narrator did a great job.
Beyond that, it was a complicated book for me. I thought it started really strong, and I fell for Kat quickly, even though she clearly wasn't the best at making decisions.
But....as the story moved on, I struggled with frustration at Kat (our main character), because she just wasn't taking any measures to help herself. I'd say I was with this one until the last third to quarter of the book. All in all, I'd give this story a solid 3 stars. I think that this author has a lot of potential, but this one was a little flat for me.

I was really looking forward to this book, but I unfortunately struggled to get through it. I thought that the premise had great potential, and was expecting more of a rom-com love story. Instead it is a book of anxiety, which would be fine, but it seemed the author wanted to see what else she could put in the book…child abuse, childhood trauma, death of a pet, hearing loss, etc.

There was so much thrown into the book and yet it focused so much on her hiding in the gym and at the end everything is wrapped up so quickly, like an afterthought. I would have preferred more of life after the gym, to see how she healed from her anxiety and trauma.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Kat is having a bad day- a really bad day. Her boss called her on the phone to fire her, and not long after her boyfriend of 5 years calls to breakup with her. Kat has extreme anxiety and after getting so much bad news she goes to leave an elite health club, that basically has everything you can think of, when it panic locks her into the building. She literally can not leave the facility. The entire story is how she tries to beat the system and hide from guards to live at the health club until she can find a way to actually escape it. It tells of the relationships she makes along the way and the lies she has to tell loved ones as not to expose where she is at night and why she can not leave the building in fear of being locked in the insane asylum again.

If you want an understanding of anxiety and how over powering it can be, this may be the story for you. Anxiety can come in MANY forms and cause many different reactions for people. This story not only covers this mental health disorder but many other serious trigger warnings- child death, relationship abuse, and more.
Based on the cover alone, one would think this is a romance story or even a comedy and this story is the farthest thing from those topics. It is actually pretty sad and makes you feel for Kat and what she is experiencing. The narrator did a great job in expressing everything Kat had to endure.
Special thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing an audio arc in return for an honest review.

I really gave this one a chance. I'm not sure if it's the narrator or the story, but I found myself bored and annoyed by the main character. The Narrator could have livened up the performance instead of pausing after almost every paragraph or scene. I wasn't cheering her on or anyone really. I would definitely give the authors other books a try, but not likely this narrator.

This book had me giggling in the beginning. It was hilarious. It quickly becomes serious as mental health is addressed. Perfect book for Mental Health month this month. Also a good reminder that those you love do not find your depression/anxiety as a problem or something that holds back their love for you. I highly recommend this one-so good!

I have been given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I like many others were lured into this book by the rom com description. However this book has definitely been marketed wrong. There is very little romance and more often than not the jokes fall flat. It feels like forced comedy with Christmas cracker level jokes rather than the characters themselves being funny.

I also feel like there wasn't enough character development for a book about mental health. It was just she feels awful then last 10% of the book, something happens and she's now fine.

I feel like this story was not really what it was advertised, it is not a romantic comedy. There wasn't any really funny parts and the romance wasn't that existent. The mental health was the main focus of this story and a person with anxiety that was relatable for me. I am glad that she learned about herself and was also able to get help in the end. Overall, it was an okay listen for me.

DNF at 16%.

I just couldn’t do it, and I’m going to try this new thing where I don’t force myself to finish books I’m not enjoying in any way. I feel like this one wasn’t categorized or advertised appropriately; it had a couple of mildly funny moments, but mostly it was irritating and over the top (alternating with sad…I really don’t want to read descriptions about a beloved emotional support animal dying from cancer). What I read definitely didn’t give me any indication of true humour, romance, or a fun read at all. Not for me.

Kat is having the worst day of her life. Her boyfriend has signed her up to join the gym. She decides to take the leap and check it out, and then two phone calls changes her life. She is stuck at the gym with severe anxiety and cant bear it to walk out the door an so becomes a stow-away spending a couple of nights in the safety of the gym.

The first few chapters were great. Building up the story and get you really invested. There was however no humor at all and probably only about 10% romance in this book. If I wasn't expecting those two big factors this would have been a great read. The story had a good grounding start but it did not keep the pace at all.

The narration on this book was really great, and I felt that she had a good voice over for this book.

My thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for this ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookotoure for an ALC of this one!

2.5

Also, please know I have so much respect for authors and could never do what they do. This is just simply just my opinion.

I found this book to be a bit of a disappointment. It’s billed as a rom-com and isn’t really either. I see what Center was *trying* to do, but it didn’t work. This felt much longer than necessary, the MC is unlikeable, and I have some issues with the ending.

So all in all, this was sad and frustrating and just wasn’t for me. I honestly would’ve DNF’d if it was a NetGalley ALC that would help with my rating. 😬

I wanted to love this book , but i couldn't. The cover was deceiving , I thought it would be a funny rom com but no it was kind of sad and I felt bad for the main character.

Gotta say this one fell flat for me. The description and cover screamed rom-com but the book definitely did not. When you're expecting a funny romantic book and you get a deeper book that focuses extremely heavily on mental health instead, it becomes very difficult to read. I think maybe the book needs a new cover and synopsis to be taken in by the right crowd....